No Arabic abstract
The ANTARES radiation hydrodynamics code is capable of simulating the solar granulation in detail unequaled by direct observation. We introduce a state-of-the-art numerical tool to the solar physics community and demonstrate its applicability to model the solar granulation. The code is based on the weighted essentially non-oscillatory finite volume method and by its implementation of local mesh refinement is also capable of simulating turbulent fluids. While the ANTARES code already provides promising insights into small-scale dynamical processes occurring in the quiet-Sun photosphere, it will soon be capable of modeling the latter in the scope of radiation magnetohydrodynamics. In this first preliminary study we focus on the vertical photospheric stratification by examining a 3-D model photosphere with an evolution time much larger than the dynamical timescales of the solar granulation and of particular large horizontal extent corresponding to $25! !! times , 25!$ on the solar surface to smooth out horizontal spatial inhomogeneities separately for up- and downflows. The highly resolved Cartesian grid thereby covers $sim 4~mathrm{Mm}$ of the upper convection zone and the adjacent photosphere. Correlation analysis, both local and two-point, provides a suitable means to probe the photospheric structure and thereby to identify several layers of characteristic dynamics: The thermal convection zone is found to reach some ten kilometers above the solar surface, while convectively overshooting gas penetrates even higher into the low photosphere. An $approx 145,mathrm{km}$ wide transition layer separates the convective from the oscillatory layers in the higher photosphere.
Magnetic fields are one of the most important drivers of the highly dynamic processes that occur in the lower solar atmosphere. They span a broad range of sizes, from large- and intermediate-scale structures such as sunspots, pores and magnetic knots, down to the smallest magnetic elements observable with current telescopes. On small scales, magnetic flux tubes are often visible as Magnetic Bright Points (MBPs). Apart from simple $V/I$ magnetograms, the most common method to deduce their magnetic properties is the inversion of spectropolarimetric data. Here we employ the SIR code for that purpose. SIR is a well-established tool that can derive not only the magnetic field vector and other atmospheric parameters (e.g., temperature, line-of-sight velocity), but also their stratifications with height, effectively producing 3-dimensional models of the lower solar atmosphere. In order to enhance the runtime performance and the usability of SIR we parallelized the existing code and standardized the input and output formats. This and other improvements make it feasible to invert extensive high-resolution data sets within a reasonable amount of computing time. An evaluation of the speedup of the parallel SIR code shows a substantial improvement in runtime.
One of the most important features in the solar atmosphere is magnetic network and its rela- tionship with the transition region (TR), and coronal brightness. It is important to understand how energy is transported into the corona and how it travels along the magnetic-field lines be- tween deep photosphere and chromosphere through the TR and corona. An excellent proxy for transportation is the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) raster scans and imaging observations in near-ultraviolet (NUV) and far-ultraviolet (FUV) emission channels with high time-spatial resolutions. In this study, we focus on the quiet Sun as observed with IRIS. The data with high signal to noise ratio in Si IV, C II and Mg II k lines and with strong emission intensities show a high correlation in TR bright network points. The results of the IRIS intensity maps and dopplergrams are compared with those of Atmo- spheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) and Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) instruments onboard the Solar Dynamical Observatory (SDO). The average network intensity profiles show a strong correlation with AIA coronal channels. Furthermore, we applied simultaneous observations of magnetic network from HMI and found a strong relationship between the network bright points in all levels of the solar atmosphere. These features in network elements exhibited high doppler velocity regions and large mag- netic signatures. A dominative fraction of corona bright points emission, accompanied by the magnetic origins in photosphere, suggest that magnetic-field concentrations in the network rosettes could help couple between inner and outer solar atmosphere.
Routine ultraviolet imaging of the Suns upper atmosphere shows the spectacular manifestation of solar activity; yet we remain blind to its main driver, the magnetic field. Here we report unprecedented spectropolarimetric observations of an active region plage and its surrounding enhanced network, showing circular polarization in ultraviolet (Mg II $h$ & $k$ and Mn I) and visible (Fe I) lines. We infer the longitudinal magnetic field from the photosphere to the very upper chromosphere. At the top of the plage chromosphere the field strengths reach more than 300 gauss, strongly correlated with the Mg II $k$ line core intensity and the electron pressure. This unique mapping shows how the magnetic field couples the different atmospheric layers and reveals the magnetic origin of the heating in the plage chromosphere.
A variety of indices have been proposed in order to represent the many different observables modulated by the solar cycle. Most of these indices are highly correlated with each other owing to their intrinsic link with the solar magnetism and the dominant eleven year cycle, but their variations may differ in fine details, as well as on short- and long-term trends. In this paper we present an overview of the indices that are often employed to describe the many features of the solar cycle, moving from the ones referring to direct observations of the inner solar atmosphere, the photosphere and chromosphere, to those deriving from measurements of the transition region and solar corona. For each index, we summarize existing measurements {bf and typical use}, and for those that quantify physical observables, we describe the underlying physics.
Convective flows are known as the prime means of transporting magnetic fields on the solar surface. Thus, small magnetic structures are good tracers of the turbulent flows. We study the migration and dispersal of magnetic bright features (MBFs) in intergranular areas observed at high spatial resolution with Sunrise/IMaX. We describe the flux dispersal of individual MBFs as a diffusion process whose parameters are computed for various areas in the quiet Sun and the vicinity of active regions from seeing-free data. We find that magnetic concentrations are best described as random walkers close to network areas (diffusion index, gamma=1.0), travelers with constant speeds over a supergranule (gamma=1.9-2.0), and decelerating movers in the vicinity of flux emergence and/or within active regions (gamma=1.4-1.5). The three types of regions host MBFs with mean diffusion coefficients of 130 km^2/s, 80-90 km^2/s, and 25-70 km^2/s, respectively. The MBFs in these three types of regions are found to display a distinct kinematic behavior at a confidence level in excess of 95%.